One of the services in the notably long list of Azure services is Azure file share archiving. This Azure cloud service is being advertised for its ability to reduce storage costs by up to 87% while providing adequate data protection. But what exactly does this service do? How does it help reduce storage costs by a massive percentage?

Intelligent cloud archiving
Azure file share archiving is basically a smart cloud archiving solution that leverages Microsoft Azure’s power with a proprietary data management (by LiquidData Systems) to make the most of cloud storage. It is provided as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution designed to maximize cloud storage and minimize the disruptions to users and applications. It affords full data control to users including the ability to extend on-premise backup storage. Moreover, it is created with open standard enterprise archiving based on Azure services.

Benefits
Azure-based archiving is designed to deliver a host of advantages. For one, it ensures safeguards for data assets against various forms of cyber threats including ransomware and malicious software. It comes with powerful encryption as well as data classification, access rights synchronization, and easy file recovery from ransomware.

Additionally, Azure-based archiving makes it possible for users to efficiently manage unstructured data assets. The primary storage can be offloaded to defer the purchase of new storage as much as possible. It also comes with cloud discovery and a fully-managed search function which supports on-demand indexing, the ability to search through audio and video transcripts, native storage and e-discovery, and rich data analysis.

Azure-based archiving, moreover, simplifies and enhances backup and disaster recovery, complies with legal requirements for data retention, and facilitates the streamlining of litigation and investigation scenarios. It comes with built-in data classification, policy-based data tiering, SEC WORM compliance, the configuration of automatic retention and disposition policies, and support for an extensive range of data types.

This archiving solution is designed to serve as an extension to on-premise file sharing systems. It can seamlessly move inactive data to Azure cloud storage while opening up space in the on-premise environment. This is what makes Azure-based archiving a scalable low-cost storage solution that lessens the need for increasing annual storage purchases. All of these benefits are expected to result in a storage cost reduction of up to 87%.

Shifting capital expenditures to operating expenditures
The cost efficiency of Azure file share archiving is touted to have the benefit of reducing capital expenditures, so funds can be used for operational funding requirements. Its Software as a Service model is designed to be subscription-based to let customers more freely decide on how their costs are to be allocated. Also, savings are achieved since there are no hardware failures and it is unnecessary to patch environments. Azure file share archiving is built for long-term retention, to extend storage infrastructure, and not necessitate additional hardware.

Azure file share archiving is a proprietary solution that leverages Azure cloud storage. If you want to reduce ongoing annual storage expenditure, consider this as one of your viable options. It is available on a pay-as-you-grow pricing scheme without a lock-in period, start-up costs, month-to-month computer costs, and cancellation fees.